Martin Jol made one change to the side that beat Wolves 5-0 on Sunday as Stephen Kelly returned from injury ahead of schedule in place of Aaron Hughes who missed out with a calf problem.

It meant that the Fulham midfield was once again packed with goal scoring potential as Mousa Dembele, Damien Duff and Clint Dempsey lined up behind the dangerous partnership of Pavel Pogrebnyak and Andy Johnson.

Villa began the match positively and it needed a great block from Brede Hangeland in the second minute to cut out Alan Hutton’s cross after Stephen Ireland had slipped the full-back through down the right.

The first effort of the match came after five minutes when Stiliyan Petrov volleyed goalwards from range after being encouraged to do so by the home fans. His effort was well hit but straight at Mark Schwarzer.

The hosts were certainly in the ascendency and a minute later Charles N’Zogbia should have perhaps done better when he sliced wide from 18 yards.

Marc Albrighton was next to test Schwarzer after Cuellar broke forward after robbing Murphy in midfield before finding Gabriel Agbonlahor down the left. The striker’s cross was inviting but Alrighton could only find Schwarzer with his header.

Villa had packed their midfield in an attempt to nullify Fulham’s attacking instincts and it certainly seemed to be paying off with the home side seeing plenty of the ball. It was a credit to the Whites defence though that they were mostly limited to speculative shots from distance.

The best chance to break the deadlock fell to Agbonlahor on 17 minutes after a rare misplaced Murphy pass allowed the striker to burst through on goal. Luckily for the Whites his effort was too close to Schwarzer who palmed away superbly.

James Collins found space at the far post from the resulting corner but fired wide as Villa again failed to capitalise on good possession.

A neatly worked free-kick on 23 minutes again gave Petrov a shooting opportunity but his rasping effort from distance flew a couple of yards wide of the post.

There were concerns amongst the Fulham camp when Danny Murphy needed medical attention after a clash with Stephen Ireland left him with a bloodied face. Replays suggested there was an elbow but no action was taken by the referee.

Villa certainly didn’t look like a team who hadn’t won any of their last six home matches as it took half an hour for Fulham to test Shay Given for the first time and even then Johnson’s strike was straight at the Irish stopper.

Villa’s packed midfield was allowing them plenty of time on the ball so Jol attempted to counter the threat by dropping Johnson into a left wing position, with Dempsey moving more central.

The change seemed to work as Fulham ventured into their opponents half more often as the first 45 drew to a close, but they couldn’t quite find the final ball whenever they approached the area.

In the last minute of the half the Whites were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area after first Dempsey and then Pogrebnyak were wiped off the ball unfairly. What happened next was genius as Murphy shaped to pass to one of the lingering Dempsey or Johnson but when Villa took the bait, our Captain instead fed the unmarked Johnson down the left whose shot flashed wide.

There was a new face in midfield for Fulham as the teams came out for the second half as Jol introduced the more defence minded Mahamadou Diarra for Murphy.

The second half was instantly a much more open contest with end-to-end football gracing the Villa Park turf. Good defending by both sides meant chances remained at a premium though.

The trio of Duff, Dempsey and Dembele were seeing much more of the ball and Fulham were unfortunate that nobody could get on the end of Duff’s teasing centre on 51 minutes. The introduction of Diarra was certainly restricting Villa from knocking the ball around as they did in the first 45.

Just after the hour mark the home side came within a whisker of the opener when Hutton pulled the ball back to Albrighton who clipped the top of the bar with his effort from distance.

Dembele’s trickery was causing Villa no end of problems and Petrov found himself in the book after sliding in late on the slippery Belgian.

Martin Jol made his second change on 66 minutes when he replaced Andrew Johnson with Bryan Ruiz as Fulham enjoyed a period of sustained pressure which culminated in a 69th minute effort from Duff grazing the post.

John Arne Riise came close to opening his Fulham account on 77 minutes when his fizzing, dipping volley sailed narrowly over Given’s far post. And 10 minutes later Villa defender Carlos Cuellar stabbed wide from 12 yards following a corner to the home side.

The game looked to be petering out but substitute Andreas Weimann stabbed home in stoppage time to secure the points for the home side. Schwarzer had done well to parry Gary Gardner’s initial effort and to see away Weimann’s initial strike but at the third attempt the young striker managed to force the ball into the back of the net. It was harsh on the Whites who put in an excellent second half performance and were well worth a fourth game undefeated.